1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a processing technique for printing an object displayed by a browser function of an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, multi-function peripherals have been commercialized which include a great many functions based around a digital copying apparatus. Apart from copy, facsimile, printer and scanner functions, multi-function peripherals also include such functions as a saving function for saving scanned image data to a hard disk or the like or a web browser function for browsing web pages.
In order to operate a plurality of functions, the operation panel of multi-function peripherals has increased in size in recent years. As a result, the operation panel acts not only as an operation setting apparatus for executing the above functions, but also as a display apparatus which monitors the operation and status of remote devices on a network, for example. Further, the operation panel acts as a display apparatus for displaying web pages when using a web browser function.
Combining the web browser function with the printer function enables browsed web pages to be printed simply by pressing the Start button (e.g., see JP 2003-122279A).
However, web pages generally come in a variety of sizes. Thus if a web page cannot be fully displayed on a display panel of fixed size, the entire web page can be viewed using a scroll function. In the case of printing web pages, on the other hand, part of the printed web page may end up being cut off when attempting to print in a fixed format, sometimes making it impossible to print in the designated format. This causes a lack of user-friendliness, since the user must select the optimal printing condition each time a web page is printed.